Advanced Wastewater Treatment to Achieve Low Concentration of Phosphorus
Regional Water Quality Standards Information
WQS Home
In this report, EPA Region 10 presents observations of advanced wastewater treatment installed at 23 municipalities in the United States. These facilities employ chemical addition and a range of filtration technologies which have proven to be very effective at producing an effluent containing low levels of phosphorus.
Observations from this evaluation include:
- Chemical addition to wastewater with aluminum- or iron-based coagulants followed by tertiary filtration can reduce total phosphorus concentrations in the final effluent to very low levels. The total phosphorus concentrations achieved by some of these WWTPs are consistently near or below 0.01 mg/l.
- The cost of applying tertiary treatment for phosphorus removal is affordable, when measured by the monthly residential sewer fees charged by the municipalities that operate these exemplary facilities. The monthly residential sewer rates charged to maintain and operate the entire treatment facility ranged from as low as $18 to the highest fee of $46.
- There appeared to be no technical or economic reason that precludes other dischargers from using any of the tertiary treatment technologies that are employed at these WWTPs. Any of these technologies may be scaled as necessary to fulfill treatment capacity needs after consideration of site specific conditions.
- Other pollutants that commonly affect water quality such as biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, and fecal coliform bacteria are also significantly reduced through these advanced treatment processes.
- WWTPs which utilize enhanced biological nutrient removal (EBNR) in the secondary treatment process can often reduce total phosphorus concentrations to 0.3 mg/l or less prior to tertiary filtration. While employing EBNR is not essential to achieving high phosphorus removal rates, EBNR enhances the performance and reduces operating costs (especially chemical use) of the subsequent tertiary filtration process. Recently published studies report that the longer solids retention times used in BNR processes also removes a significant amount of other pollutants contained in municipal wastewater, including toxics, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products.
- The low effluent turbidity produced by tertiary filtration allows for efficient disinfection offinal effluent without chlorination through the use of ultraviolet treatment.
- The treatment processes and quality of the final effluent produced by tertiary filtration for phosphorus removal typically meet state criteria for wastewater reclamation. Reuse of this high quality effluent can be an attractive alternative to direct discharge into surface waters in situations where restrictive NPDES permit limitations apply.
Advanced Wastewater Treatment to Achieve Low Concentration of Phosphorus (73 pp. 4.5MB, About PDF)